


A Place to Call Home

by teacup_tyrant



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Kaz just loves having money, More domestic fluff, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28885713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teacup_tyrant/pseuds/teacup_tyrant
Summary: They stopped in front of an imposing brick mansion with black leaded windows and intricately ornamented cornerstones. Kaz pushed open the iron front gate and headed towards the door. Inej was completely bewildered. It was one thing to rob the place, as Kaz had told her the house was recently foreclosed, but to do it going through the front door in broad daylight?When he produced a key from his pocket and unlocked the heavy wooden door, Inej's mouth dropped open even farther.
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 10
Kudos: 98
Collections: Kaz and Inej Fanfics





	A Place to Call Home

Kaz Brekker did not own many things, least of all things that he purchased legally. But now he was a successful Barrel Boss, so he decided to follow in the footsteps of many bosses and merchers before him and invest his money into real estate. And he had a particular neighborhood in mind.

After catching a mercher in a bad trade, bankrupting him, and effectively running him out of town, Kaz Brekker purchased the man's foreclosed mansion near the Geldstraat. The mansion had a convenient view of both first and second harbor and was an easy canal ride away from the newer club Kaz had purchased on the Lid several years back. That club began turning a higher profit than the Crow Club after just a year in operation due to the richer clientele frequenting the tables. Kaz ran the club straight, with no affiliation with the Dregs. He actually made more money that way. Significantly more money. Who knew that legitimate business could be more profitable than the swindles he had been so used to running in the Barrel?

Life in the Geldin District was significantly different than in the Barrel. There were no narrow alleys with urchins lurking in the shadows ready to pick your pocket. The streets in the wealthy neighborhood were wide and its houses were stately and grand. Most of his smug new neighbors looked down their noses at Kaz when they saw him coming down the street (especially if it was at some ungodly hour of the night). The affluent neighborhood was no place for a barrel boss, they thought.

But as far as Kaz was concerned, money was money, no matter the social status of the person who acquired it. Having just as much as his old money mercher neighbors made him, in his eyes, their equal. 

And after a few weeks, to his neighbor's dismay, they had nothing to complain about in regards to the Geldstraat's newest resident. He hosted no noisy parties, the house front was kept neat and tidy, and wild geraniums bloomed in every flower box. 

Kaz had the interior redone to his own tastes (and the office moved to the first floor). A deKappel painting hung in a place of honor in the entrance hall as a testament to his and Inej's first foray into the world of art theft, though most visitors knew nothing of the painting's shady history and only congratulated him on his excellent taste in fine art.

It was on a particularly lovely spring day that a certain ship pulled back into its berth at Fifth Harbor and it wasn't long before Kaz was leading its captain down the Geldstraat towards his new investment.

Inej had been hesitant about his request to accompany him to the Geldin District at such a conspicuous time in the afternoon. When she thought more about it, she wasn't even sure if she had actually seen the neighborhood during the daylight hours. Shadows were best for spying, so why were the two of them headed there now?

“This one,” Kaz announced suddenly and drew to a halt.

They stopped in front of an imposing brick mansion with black leaded windows and intricately ornamented cornerstones. Kaz pushed open the iron front gate and headed towards the door. Inej was completely bewildered. It was one thing to rob the place, as Kaz had told her the house recently foreclosed, but to do it going through the front door in broad daylight? But when he produced a key from his pocket and unlocked the heavy wooden door, Inej's mouth dropped open even farther.

“What-”

But Kaz cut her off and motioned for her to follow him inside. “I want your opinion on something.”

She followed him wordlessly into the front hall. At this point, it was pretty obvious that Kaz hadn't brought her here for assistance in stealing anything. But then why...

“Do you think this is a good place to put it?” Kaz gestured to a familiar painting hanging on the wall. It was the DeKappel that they had lifted from Jan Van Eck years ago. It hung like a badge of honor as the main focal point of the hall.

Inej looked at him, realization beginning to dawn on her. The corners of Kaz's eyes crinkled in a satisfied grin that hadn't yet reached his mouth.

“We're not... here to steal anything,” she stated tentatively.

“No,” Kaz confirmed with a breath that almost sounded like a laugh. “That would be counterproductive.”

“You... bought this place?” She questioned.

“Bit of a fixer-upper,” he admitted with his arms crossed, taking in the spotless, gleaming wood floors and elaborately paneled walls, “but it'll be a good investment.”

The laughter Inej had been suppressing finally bubbled over. “You own a mercher mansion,” she finally choked out, the irony almost too much to handle.

“I'm not a merch,” Kaz corrected her, “so it's no longer a mercher mansion. Now it's just mine.”

“A barrel boss mansion,” she amended and took a few steps down the hall, eager to explore the place and see what other changes Kaz had made. What personal touch would he put on a house? Ornamental crow sculptures on the mantelpieces? A bedroom converted to a closet entirely lined with suits? He'd never had a place to call his own, besides the tiny attic room at the Slat. Would he use a door and fruit crates as his office table here, too? She grinned at the thought of his old desk in the center of the lavish, wood-paneled office she knew existed somewhere in the house.

Then, a clatter from a room near the back of the hall made Inej jump. She glanced in alarm at Kaz, who didn't seem remotely concerned. Shuffling footsteps echoed down the hall and a woman with grizzled grey hair came bustling around the corner.

“Oh!” The old woman exclaimed, stopping short before she barreled into Inej. “Company! Shall I bring you some tea, dear?”

The woman spoke oddly loud. And now that she looked closer, Inej saw that the woman wasn't as old as she had initially assumed. Half of her hair was swooped across one eye, obscuring part of her face before it was tucked up in a bun under her cap.

“Y-yes, that would be nice,” Inej stuttered. There was something familiar about the woman.

“You might have seen in the Barrel,” Kaz said quietly as the woman retreated back to the kitchen. “On the corners. Her husband beat her senseless until the day he dropped dead. She can't hear out of one ear or see out of one eye. Couldn't find work.”

Inej cocked her head at him, a satisfied smirk playing on her lips.

“Don't look at me like that,” he insisted crossly. It was a false command, of course. That was exactly how he wanted Inej to look at him. She always had seen through his hardened exterior when no one else bothered to try. Everyone just took him at his monstrous reputation and based their opinions on the tales that surrounded him. It still made him uncomfortable to display any open act of kindness, but he did it anyway. For her, and a little for himself, to prove that yes, yes he was trying.

“Like what?” She asked innocently.

“Like...” Kaz sighed, “like I'm better than I am.”

“I think you're plenty good,” Inej insisted, bumping her shoulder softly against his. “At least, when you want to be.”

A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. Well, if Inej saw some goodness in him, then that was all that mattered. He didn't need his enemies seeing it. He did have a reputation that he relied on in the streets of the Barrel after all. They didn't need to know that one smile or word of praise from a particular Suli ship captain was all it required to reduce him to a simpering fool who would do anything she asked. 

“Will you give me a tour?” She asked, eyes sparkling in the light that filtered through the foyer. 

“Of course.”

“Is there a piano for Wylan to play when he visits? Is there even-” her eyes widened in anticipation, “-a bathtub?”

“No to the piano, but yes to the bathtub. Two, actually.”

Inej made a noise of delight and was nearly bouncing on her feet. Kaz supposed weeks aboard a ship with no plumbing and only a bucket for washing would do that to a person. 

“You can have whichever one you like best,” he said. Then he realized how that had sounded. He swallowed nervously. “Because you can stay here whenever you like. I mean, I want you to. To stay here. With me.”

Inej understood. It wasn't just Kaz's home, it was their home. 

“Well,” she started softly, taking his hand and beginning to pull him towards the grand staircase. “You better show me around the place then.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've always had this image in my head of Adult Kaz just sauntering around the richest neighborhood in town with all the “old money” people looking down their noses at him, and him not giving a single fuck about it, bc he knows he's richer and smarter than all of them.
> 
> I'm currently aboard the Netflix hype train and I welcome all new readers to the Grishaverse! I'll probably be posting more Kanej domestic fluffy fics bc apparently that's all I know how to write lololol


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